When you go to a hospital for a medical procedure, you need to trust that the healthcare professionals on staff have the appropriate credentials. That they are well-trained, with the knowledge and expertise to provide outstanding care, should be beyond dispute. But who exactly ensures that this is indeed the case? In hospitals, managed care organizations, and group practices across the country, that vital work is performed by medical staff service employees.

Medical services professionals are effectively a facility’s gatekeepers. To patients and visitors, these staffers may not be very visible, but they are the dedicated professionals who work behind the scenes to ensure that all the facility’s physicians are credentialed and verified to provide high quality medical care. The job of MSPs, essentially, is to make sure that doctors are who they claim to be. Specifically, MSPs maintain databanks to track physician training, experience, and licensure, in addition to managing accredited continuing medical education programs that help doctors maintain clinical competency.

The expertise of MSPs also plays an important role in establishing and maintaining the community’s trust in a facility. Without MSPs to ensure that doctors are properly credentialed, not only can trust in the facility’s brand be hurt, but so can trust in all physicians at the facility. Furthermore, MSPs use their knowledge about policies, procedures, and bylaws to protect hospitals by keeping physicians and other healthcare staffers focused on proper policies.

As healthcare evolves, MSPs are performing more diverse roles within organizations, from quality assurance to risk management. In the United States, the National Association of Medical Staff Services (NAMSS) supports the professional growth of MSPs by providing educational resources and by developing, administering, and promoting certification programs that measure knowledge of current industry standards and practices.

The American Board of Physician Specialties® (ABPS) applauds the commitment of MSPs in monitoring the competence of physicians and other practitioners in healthcare facilities. As the third-largest nationally recognized physician multi-specialty certifying body in the country, the ABPS aims to help to provide patients with exceptional medical care by recognizing licensed physicians who have mastered their medical specialties.

For more information about physician board certification options and eligibility requirements with the ABPS, contact us today.